


Mors tua, vita mea

by therealbloodymary01



Category: Merlin (TV), iZombie (TV)
Genre: Angst, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Zombies, magicrevealatsomepoint, merlincansensezombies, zombiesincamelot
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-28
Updated: 2021-01-28
Packaged: 2021-03-14 04:26:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,166
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29040093
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/therealbloodymary01/pseuds/therealbloodymary01
Summary: The Zombie disease starts to spread throughout the kingdom and there’s nothing that anyone can do to stop it, not even Merlin himself. Who's playing for team Z? Who will survive?
Kudos: 2





	Mors tua, vita mea

**Author's Note:**

> Basically a crossover between Merlin characters and the universe of IZombie. I really liked this idea as I love both series, but I genuinely don't know where this will go and how often I'll update, so read it at your own risk XD  
> As always, feel free to point out any mistakes and if you got opinions, reviews, suggestions or even insults, I'll be happy to read them!  
> Cheers xx

The cook of Camelot was lying still on the floor. All the servants were gathered around the kitchen, a horrified look on their faces. It had all happened in the course of not more than five minutes. After breakfast, when they had finished serving the king and his family, they had come back to the kitchens and found her. She was lying near the table, eyes wide open and mouth contracted in a scream of terror. The worst thing was her head, though. Her brain had been completely removed.  
Who could commit such a horrendous crime?  
As soon as he managed to see what was going on, the prince’s manservant knew he’d better go and find Gaius. They needed to examine the body as soon as possible. He ran upstairs in a second, finding himself in the small studio of the physician.  
“We have another one,” he announced.  
Without asking any more questions, the old man grabbed his case and left with his young apprentice.   
“Who is it, this time?”  
“The lady of the kitchens, we found her body on our way back after breakfast.”  
“Her brain?”  
“Gone.”  
He sighed bitterly.  
“We need to take action, Merlin. I fear that something big is going on.”  
They reached the small place once again, still crowded with the concerned members of the castle’s staff. Gaius told everyone to leave and asked Merlin to find the king, then started to inspect the corpse. It was a morbid spectacle to watch, but he needed answers. The bloodstains on the wall indicated that the victim had been caught off guard and hadn’t got a chance to defend herself. Her head had been smashed with a frying pan, which was lying on the floor as well, and she had probably died instantly. This meant that the killer did not only commit heinous crimes, but was also shockingly strong. It was the third murder of that kind in less than two weeks. A lot of people kept dying in weird circumstances throughout the kingdom, and they always had their brain taken out. Moreover, there were also several missing persons, mostly servants or inhabitants of the villages, who seemed to have simply vanished. Something was definitely not right.  
“What is it, Gaius?” the king burst behind him, followed by his son, Arthur, and Merlin. He went still, seeing the body on the floor.   
“Is that…”  
“Another one, Sire. She was the main cook of the castle.”  
“Yes, I know who she was. Please, tell me you have some clues on the murderer.”  
“I’m afraid not, Sire, but I need to examine these wounds better. They look too heinous to have been inflicted by a human being," he stated.  
Uther raised an eyebrow.  
"Are you suggesting the killer is some kind of beast?"  
"I don't know yet, I need to carry out further research. We need to move her to my studio."  
Arthur ordered some guards to transport the body. He looked quite shaken by the sight of it.  
"If you need me, I'll be in my apartments, Sire," the physician said.  
Merlin was about to follow Arthur wherever he was headed but was stopped by a mildly concerned Gaius.  
"I need your help, Merlin," he told his apprentice.  
"But I have work to do--"  
"Merlin, please. I think I might know who is committing these crimes," he added in a whisper.  
The boy turned to his master, giving him an apologetic look.  
Arthur shrugged, too deep in his thoughts to mind him. So, the four of them parted ways.

Back in their chambers, Gaius and Merlin found the body of the victim, which had been lifted by the guards on the writing-table.  
"So, what do you think killed her?" The young boy inquired.  
The physician didn't answer, too busy flipping through the pages of an old book about mythological creatures. He suddenly stopped, pointing at one particular figure.  
"Look at this, Merlin. I think it might be the answer we were looking for."  
"Seriously, a zombie? - exclaimed Merlin - Are they even real?"  
"Everything in this book is real, Merlin. I can't believe I didn't think of this before. I haven't seen a zombie in such a long time, I honestly thought they had all died. No, this isn't good at all," he stated, very concerned.  
Judging by the pictures in the book, zombies didn't seem as scary as the boy had always imagined them.  
"They look almost… human," he pointed out.   
"Well, they are, actually. They’re just people who were scratched by a zombie, so now they have to feed themselves with brains in order to stay focused. If they don't, they lose their grip on reality and start to act like animals. The one or ones who are perpetrating these crimes have clearly lost control. The king won't be happy to find out someone is spreading the zombie disease again…"  
"Wait, again? "  
"We had another episode more than twenty years ago. That's one of the reasons why the king ordered the Purge. Apparently, not every zombie died."  
"Yeah, it looks like it," the servant agreed.  
He looked at the book's page again, wondering if anyone among the people he met every day was one of them.  
"So, how do you recognize a zombie?" he asked his mentor.  
"They are usually very pale, with almost white hair, but they could dye it, so you can never really know. We must keep an eye open, everyone could be playing for team Z," he concluded.  
All that situation was totally insane, and it was the last thing they needed those days. As if they weren't already torn apart by constant conflicts! Camelot could never rest.  
Merlin kept reading about zombies the entire morning, discovering that they were indeed immortal, but could be killed anyway. Basically, the same as himself. He also found out that, when they ate a human brain, they got visions of their victims' life.  
He and Gaius had decided that it was better to keep that zombie affair secret, at least for the moment. Uther was well known to have exaggerated reactions, so the best thing to do was making sure that the responsible was indeed a zombie, and, if their supposition turned out to be right, to find every one of them before Uther did.  
There was a chance that Gaius could brew an antidote to cure them, but if they left them in the sovereign's hands, he would have immediately sentenced them to death. Besides, there was no point in spreading panic when they weren't even sure of anything. If another murder occurred, they would have said everything to the king.

It was past noon when a sudden knock on the door made Gaius and Merlin flinch.   
"Enter," Gaius granted.  
The crown prince made his entrance, looking a bit worried.  
"There are some disorders in the villages, I think some bandits attacked them," he announced. "We need to go," he added, looking at his servant.  
Merlin gave a knowing look to the physician before following Arthur along the hallway.   
"What happened, exactly?" He asked the prince as soon as they were out of the palace, equipping themselves for the journey.  
"A peasant came and told us that her village is being attacked by some "monsters", but she didn't say anything else. She seemed rather shocked," the prince told him.  
"She said they were monsters?"  
"Yes, but it was just a metaphor, I guess."  
Merlin bit his tongue, he had promised Gaius he would have kept his mouth shut.  
Arthur eyed him cautiously.  
"Merlin? What aren't you telling me?" He asked.  
"Me? Nothing."  
"Merlin, please, I know when you're lying."  
The boy was desperately trying to make something up, but nothing came to his mind. Besides, maybe it was better to tell him the truth. If that village was truly being attacked by zombies, they needed to be cautious. He had magic, so he wasn't sure that the zombie disease could infect him, but Arthur, he couldn't risk him being exposed to it. And technically speaking, he had promised not to say a word to Uther. And Arthur wasn't Uther.  
"Alright, I'll tell you, but you have to promise you won't tell anyone, not even your father," he stated.  
"Fine," the prince assured him, "out with it."  
"...All the murders which had been happening during the past days, they have been committed by…"  
He looked around, making sure there wasn't anyone eavesdropping. Arthur got closer to him.  
"They have been committed by a zombie," he concluded in a whisper.  
Arthur looked at him straight in the eyes, before bursting out laughing.  
"A zombie? Are you for real? Heaven, Merlin, I can't believe you think those things really exist," he mocked him.  
"I'm telling you the truth, clotpole," Merlin replied, "and we need to be extremely cautious when we arrive at the village, 'cause if you get a scratch from one of them, you become a zombie as well".   
Arthur didn't seem to take Merlin's warnings in such consideration, but at least he had stopped making fun of him.  
"How do you know this, anyway?" He asked his servant.  
"Well, the murderer always takes the victims' brains, and since zombies feed themselves with human brains…"  
"Or he could just be crazy? You know, given that he murders people and all…"  
"I don't care if you don't believe me, but don't come complaining to me when you turn into a zombie," he said, laughing slightly.  
"I won't bother, I'll just eat your stupid brain off," the prince remarked.  
They kept riding all day long, since the village was quite distant from Camelot.  
Its name was Azifran, in the outskirts of the kingdom, along the border with Odin's dominions.  
They soon found all of the inhabitants already dead, lying on the ground. Not even one of them had managed to survive.  
Merlin got closer to one of the bodies to see it better. His skull had been smashed to the ground with such strength that it had been ripped open. Refraining from throwing up, the boy carefully turned his head to one side.  
"Arthur, over here!" he called his master.  
"What?"  
"Look, his brain's missing."  
"You think it was a zombie?"  
"What else could it be?"  
A sudden cry in the distance made clear somebody out there was still alive. Arthur drew his sword and pointed it at the hut from which the sound was coming.   
“Who’s there?” he shouted.  
A young girl slowly came out, looking terrified. She was shaking and her clothes were ripped in several places.  
The prince lowered his weapon, trying not to scare her more than she already was.  
“Are you hurt?” he asked her.  
The girl didn’t answer, she just shook her head.  
Merlin prevented the prince from getting closer to her.  
“She could have been scratched,” he whispered to him.  
“She’s a girl, Merlin,” he scoffed.  
“What happened here?”  
“My… my village was attacked, my Lord, they were everywhere…,” she began, almost crying.  
“Who?”  
“The monsters… they were white and had very red eyes… I was so terrified… please, don’t leave me here!” she pleaded.  
“I have no intention of leaving you here,” he reassured her.  
Merlin still didn’t trust her, he had a feeling she wasn’t telling all the truth.   
“How come everybody died and you managed to survive without even getting hurt?” he questioned.  
The girl looked at him for the first time and Merlin felt a shiver down his spine. For a brief moment, she didn’t seem scared at all. But maybe he was just imagining it all.  
“One of those things was chasing after me, so I ran as fast as I could and I hid in that hut. I thought he would kill me, but he didn’t find me,” she explained.  
Her eyes suddenly widened and she pointed at the spot behind them. A woman with pale skin and her face twisted into a grimace was coming at them. She had bloodshot eyes and definitely didn’t look in her right mind. Arthur drew his sword once again and pointed at her.  
“Stay back,” he ordered her.  
In the flash of a second, the zombie had thrown herself on him. The prince managed to push her to the ground and tried to stab her with his sword, but she rised again as if nothing had occurred. Merlin, who was watching from a distance, silently cast a spell to knock down a branch of a tree, which blocked the zombie to the ground. The prince eventually stabbed her and, after a while, she died.  
The boy instantly was at the side of his master again.  
“Are you injured?” he asked him. “Did she scratch you?”  
“I’m fine, Merlin. I won’t become a zombie,” he responded, still pretty shocked by the creature he had had to fight.  
“So they’re real, after all,” he admitted.  
“You still didn’t believe me?”  
The prince ignored him.  
“We need to go back to Camelot and inform my father,” he said.


End file.
